Trains Not Running, HSR Supporter Unhappy

For the second day in a row on Tuesday, Amtrak cancelled trains all over Illinois. Most of the short-distance on the Lincoln (St. Louis to Chicago), Saluki-Illini (Carbondale to Chicago), Carl Sandburg-Zephyr (Quincy to Chicago) and Hiawatha (Chicago to Milwaukee) routes are cancelled. This bothers Rick Harnish of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association:

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“I am really disappointed that we haven’t made the kind of investments, both at the state level and at the federal level, that would allow these trains to keep running in this kind of weather,” he said. Harnish said it would be great to have trains offering transportation on days when the weather prevents flying and makes driving difficult.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Maglieri says the decision to cancel service was due to warnings against travel in general, and because the railroads said the tracks were impassable. Three Chicago-bound long-distance trains stopped in Illinois and held passengers onboard overnight due to impassable tracks.